Former Supreme Court judge Hugh O’Flaherty was a “brilliant legal brain” who approached the law through a prism of “compassion and justice”, his requiem Mass has heard. O’Flaherty died peacefully at home in his native Cahirciveen, Co Kerry, this week, aged 88. Mourners at the Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church of the Holy Cross in Cahirciveen were told of his love of family, Kerry, the law and sport. In a eulogy, Hugh O’Flaherty jnr said his father believed those who chose to study law – particularly people who pursued a career as an advocate – “must be motivated by the highest of ideals”. “I don’t think there could be any doubt that he was always motivated by the highest of ideals,” he said. O’Flaherty studied at University College Dublin and later King’s Inn. He was called to the Bar in 1959 and was made a senior counsel in 1976. He was appointed directly to the Supreme Court in 1990, making him one of a small group of lawyers to join the highest court straight from the Bar.“He brought a compassion to the bench, which wasn’t always admired by the most strict lawyers,” O’Flaherty jnr said. “While he’d a brilliant legal brain, and could wrestle with the most complex legal issues, he always approached law through the prism of compassion and justice.”O’Flaherty resigned from the Supreme Court in 1999 at a time of controversy over his intervention in the case of architect Philip Sheedy, who in 1997 pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. O’Flaherty jnr said his father felt he was “harshly treated” during this affair. “The tragedy, I think, is that his great mind was lost to the legal world at such a relatively young age.”The former judge loved golf, but his “real sporting passion” was Kerry Gaelic football, his son said. Referencing Kerry’s recent loss in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, he said his father “didn’t begrudge Mayo their day in the sun” after a 75-year wait. O’Flaherty jnr also acknowledged his father’s ties to Fianna Fáil. He said his father became “besotted” with politics as a child when he heard Éamon de Valera speak to a crowd in Cahirciveen. He said his parents – who were married for more than five decades – “powered through life” together, “making so many friends from all over the world”. The former judge was predeceased by his wife Kathleen in 2017. “My father was a very good father to us all, and I think, through his actions, the greatest lesson that he gave us was to treat everyone the same, no matter their station in life. That is the way he lived his life,” he said. O’Flaherty was one of the five judges who in 1992 decided the so-called X case. He sided with the majority in the 4-1 decision to allow the appellant, a 14-year-old girl who was pregnant and suicidal after being raped by a neighbour, to travel to Britain for an abortion.The landmark judgment established the right to an abortion in the Republic if the pregnant woman’s life was at risk because of pregnancy, including the risk of suicide.O’Flaherty is survived by his children Hugh, Catherine, Rory and Bríd. He split his time between Sandymount, Dublin, and Cahirciveen and will be buried at Kilternan Cemetery on Saturday following funeral Mass at The Star of the Sea Church, Sandymount.